FC NOW: The Fast Company Weblog
September 27, 2005
Buh-Bye Now
HK Bain, CEO of Digitech Systems, a document management company with 65 employees, has an interesting approach to keeping his company a collegial place to work: He requires every employee to stop by his office and say good-bye on the way out the door. And since Bain refuses to close his door--ever--(for personnel matters, he simply lowers his voice a little bit), this means that come 5 or so on a Friday, his office can get pretty crowded. It also means that Bain is the last to leave--and that he knows all about that "dentist appointment" you need to get to. Bain says he's not a stickler about hours, and believes that people should get home at a reasonable time. It's pretty unusual for any company, not to mention a software company. So who thinks this is a management practice worth emulating?
Posted by Jennifer Reingold at September 27, 2005 2:20 PM | Category: culture |
5 Comments
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I can't help but find meaning in the fact that I was watching "The Office" on NBC while reading this post.
Goodnight, John Boy!
http://kurtmaddox.tblog.com
http://kurtmaddox.blogspot.com
It seems a bit parental don't you think?
It strikes me as an attempt at mandating common courtesy. Extending a common courtesy should be up to the descretion of the individual. Sure, have an open door policy and let those who wish to stop in for a quick good-bye - even encourge it, but don't require it.
How many employees wait and wonder if it's okay to go tell the boss bye? Or is that the real point of policy?
I worked for an absolute Nazi who was in Texas.
I was the General Manager of one of his hotels, and he told me that I should consider my employees as "children." Remind them to brush their teeth every day, he said.
I hated that guy for that kind of mentality. Reading this post reminded me of that mental midget. Whenever you reduce a human being to someone whom you can order around to obey a common courtesy, you reduce their value. It reminds me of the Nazis.
http://journals.aol.com/rogdodger1/nowhearthis/
Requiring someone else to do something, like check in on the way out, is one thing. Doing it yourself is very different. By habit, I do three somewhat similar things:
- In general, on the way out the door, *I* take a walk around among the people who work with me. Sometimes I ask something. Sometimes I just say: "Good night." If I ask something, it's "How are you doing?" or "Do you need anything before I go?"
- I do ask, in the morning, in the evening, during the day, in meetings, & any other time I can: "Do you have what you need?" and "Have you taken care of whomever is depending on your work?"
- I don't track hours. I do track output.
Mostly works, so far.